These are not manufactured anymore but you can find substitute needles on Ebay or use some industrial machine needles that have a similar kind of narrow (about 1 mm wide) shank. Singer 12 uses round shank needles size 12×1. My machine came with several strange presser feet and a great number of binding and hemming attachments. Underneath, the bentwood case has a “secret” storage box that houses an oiling can and machine accessories. I do not mind this at all, as I love the colour.
In my machine, the wooden case and the machine base have been painted red at some point in their history. The machine is protected by a bentwood case. From the base plate to the top of the handwheel the machine is only 17 cm high! For me, it looked like a toy. However, the first thing that I noticed, when I saw this machine, was that it is tiny compared to modern machines. However, for me, the hand crank was a much better choice as it is much easier to store.īecause of their curvy bed shape, they are often called “fiddle-base” sewing machine. My machine is a hand crank machine but this machine was also available with a treadle table. By this time, the inefficient transverse shuttle design had become outdated and new improved shuttle designs had won over the market. Singer 12/12K stayed in production all the way to 1902, when Kilbowie factory dispatched their last Singer 12Ks. By the year 1882, already 4 million machines were sold worldwide. This was partly by the new hire-purchase deals invented to allow poorer women to pay their machine in monthly payments after receiving the machine. Thus, I can’t be 100 % sure that my machine was manufactured in Scotland but I think it is probable.ĭespite their high price, these machines sold very well and established Singer as the biggest sewing machine manufacturer in the world. The Scottish machines were given the “K” ending to the model but otherwise, the machines are identical. Manufacture in Kilbowie, Scotland started a few years later. New Family machines were the first high volume mass-manufactured sewing machines in the world. Singer 12 “New Family” sewing machine first came around in 1865 during the American Civil war.